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A few months ago, I posted about a wonderful magazine I found in Nicaragua, called El Puente. Well, it turns out that the Publisher of the eco-friendly magazine has been convicted of her murder and has been sentenced to 30 years in prison. Many people can place Eric Volz at his office in Managua during the time of the murder on November 21, 2006; 2+ hours away from San Juan del Sur. Apparently at the trial, the prosecution didn’t present any evidence that linked Volz to the crime. I guess he and the murdered woman had dated at some point, but the lack of evidence gives a serious problem to the supposed events of the day.

Here’s a YouTube video that better explains the situation. And here’s a link to the Friends of Eric Volz and his myspace page. They are soliciting donations and your donation can directly help the young Democracy of Nicaragua fix its’ error.

On a personal note, this story really hits home. I arrived in San Juan del Sur less than 6 hours after the murder took place. We spoke at length with the woman who ran our hostel about the murder. Our host told us she was a pretty and young woman who didn’t barely have anything, and some people just came into her shop and strangled her. In broad daylight. It was shocking that such a cozy beach community could have such mindboggling crime. The hostel-owner also said that she had been living in San Juan del Sur for her whole life and could not remember a single murder ever happening before.

A few days later we were walking back to our hostel from the beach and came across the woman’s funeral procession. Seems like the whole town (save the tourists that were barely in the know, if at all) came out and it was all incredibly surreal. All the time I was there, I didn’t feel out of place for being an American, but the video link explains that the lack of evidence should keep Volz out of jail. So I have to conclude that he was jailed because of anti-American sentiment. Pair that with the fact that Ortega took office in Nicaragua weeks later, and I’m worried about the future of eco-tourism in Nicaragua. And of their fragile Democracy.